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The dining room wallpaper is Nomadic in Zephyr by Phillip Jeffries, the Atoll mirror is from Ballard Designs, and the pink side chairs are from HomeGoods.
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A soft palette of blues and greens gives this guest room designed by Sara Hillery a serene ambiance. An Arteriors table lamp is crowned with a Fermoie shade, and the vintage mirror is from West End Antiques.
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To modernize the kitchen, Hillery specified Shaker-style cabinets with quartzite countertops and a marble backsplash.
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In the living room, the pillow fabric is Free Birds by Jennifer Shorto, the drapery fabric is Flanders in Snow by Pindler, the rug is a Turkish Oushak, and the painting is a custom commission by Alice Claudill Art.
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In the den, the Collier RAF sofa is by Century Furniture, the Madison swivel chair is by Oomph, the Christy Bench coffee table is by From the Source, the pillow fabrics are Bengali Bazaar by Kravet and Virginia Mammals by Sara Hillery Home, and the tennis rackets are vintage.
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In the nursery, the Butterfly in Lavender wallpaper is by Thibaut, the Murano glass ceiling light is vintage, the Highland House ottoman is upholstered in Rocky performance velvet from Schumacher, and the glider chair is by Ballard Designs.
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The Del Mar sofas and Bedford coffee table in the family room are by Century Furniture, the Maze rug is by Annie Selke, the Bolier Classics fireside chairs are by Ginny Howerton, and the sofa pillow fabrics are by Schumacher.
In the 18 months that Sara Hillery of Sara Hillery Interior Design spent designing a Cape Cod house in the Westhampton neighborhood, the owner went through a series of life changes. She married and had a baby, and the new couple started working partially from home.
“Design always evolves,” Hillery says. “We wanted to make it very fluid and flexible for them as they started their life together. We wanted it to grow with them.”
Initially, Hillery was brought on to update the 100-year-old home’s “vanilla” interior with a classic yet modern aesthetic and solve spatial challenges presented by the 8-foot ceilings and traditional dormer windows.
Hillery quickly refinished the yellowing wood floors with a richer brown tone and installed overhead lighting throughout. In the bathroom, she left the classic black-and-white tile untouched but converted a small built-in medicine cabinet into a showcase for a collection of ferns and flowers. She also expanded the petite kitchen into the hallway and brought back the original French door to the dining room entrance to create additional sightlines.
“Her husband loves to cook, which I was really excited about,” Hillery says, “so we played that up with fresh vegetables and plant life.”
Hillery says the owner was also looking to create a calming environment. For that, she turned to the outdoors with hues of blue and green, as well as hydrangea-inspired lavender and pink accents, a nod to the owner’s favorite flower.
“If you can break down the physical barriers and unite the inside and the outside, that creates a more relaxing environment,” Hillery says. “The lighter colors don’t compete with what’s outside, and it mitigates that barrier. It feels like it all flows.”
The color palette is particularly evident in the dining room, where Hillery incorporated a blue geometric wallpaper, a textured rug and pink indoor-outdoor chairs from Home Goods. A pair of host chairs can easily shift to the adjacent family room when entertaining.
“The whole house was built with flexibility in mind,” she says, “with family-friendly, durable fabrics and colorful patterns.”
A collection of paintings and other artworks further complements the organic tones. A moody landscape — flanked by bookcases lined with blue wallpaper — brings balance to the bright and airy family room. Meanwhile, several works by Charlottesville artist Isabelle Abbot add abstract notes of blue, green and pink. Hillery also repurposed an existing TV nook to display one of two large purple geodes in the room.
“It shifted the focus from the TV,” Hillery says. “She looks at screens all day at work. It’s nice to take a break and not have that be the focus.”
Hillery then completed each space with fresh flowers and low-maintenance botanicals, including the beloved hydrangeas, lush ferns, and lemon cypress and myrtle topiaries.
One of the final rooms she completed was an upstairs nursery as the couple prepared to welcome their daughter. A pink-and-purple butterfly motif — driven by patterned wallpaper — marries the gender-neutral animal theme sought by the father with the feminine atmosphere desired by the mother.
The color palette also seamlessly integrates a pair of custom-built pink mirrored doors the couple received as a wedding present. In the corner, Hillery created a quiet reading nook with a pink rocking chair, lavender ottoman and built-in bookcase. A vintage floral Murano glass light fixture from Italy and an array of wild animal art prints and soft toys completes the look.
